Why is programming fun? What delights may its practitioner expect as his reward?

First is the sheer joy of making things. As the child delights in his

mud pie, so the adult enjoys building things, especially things of his

own design. I think this delight must be an image of God's delight in

making things, a delight shown in the distinctness and newness of each

leaf and each snowflake.

Second is the pleasure of making things that are useful to other

people. Deep within, we want others to use our work and to find it

helpful. In this respect the programming system is not essentially

different from the child's first clay pencil holder "for Daddy's

office."

Third is the fascination of fashioning complex puzzle-like objects of

interlocking moving parts and watching them work in subtle cycles,

playing out the consequences of principles built in from the

beginning. The programmed computer has all the fascination of the

pinball machine or the jukebox mechanism, carried to the ultimate.

Fourth is the joy of always learning, which springs from the

non-repeating nature of the task. In one way or another the problem is

ever new, and its solver learns something: sometimes practical,

sometimes theoretical, and sometimes both.

Finally, there is the delight of working in such a tractable medium.

The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure

thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by

exertion of the imagination.

- Fred Brooks (The Mythical Man-Month)

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This post was inspired by the Fred Brooks event at Etsy.